The Life of the Saiyan Prince
by SphynxOfRiddles
Summary: Rated T but may change, please be aware that there is some coarse language: Vegeta's mind is a difficult one to make out but now read all about the parts of his life we never got to see!. May be slightly AU, I may change some things and write what I think should have happened, but mostly will try to follow the canon.


Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I own nothing. All rights and characters belong to Akira Toriyama.

This chapter starts of the story and is based on episode 89 of Dragon Ball Z with Vegeta's flashback. It is just the perfect moment, I believe, to start off my story but the next chapters will be more my ideas. This set up the relationship ratio between the characters perfectly so I went with it.

Just covering my bases: the dialogue is loosely based on what they said in the episode, although some is taken out of it directly as is the scene but I own none of it.

Please be aware that I may not follow the canon, I haven't decided where I want to take this yet. Now enough rambling and enjoy!  


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**Chapter One  
**  
Vegeta forced himself to remain silent, his teeth gritting together painfully while on bended knee as Lord Frieza towered over him with a vicious smirk on his face, his two henchmen Zarbon and Dodoria ever at his side. _Zarbon and Dodoria,_ Vegeta thought, a bitter taste on his tongue from just thinking their names, _those two fools, always following Frieza around like little puppy dogs._ _I doubt they could wipe their arses without Frieza's hand guiding them._

"Greetings Master Frieza," Vegeta said, his voice flawlessly obscuring his true emotions beneath a mask of obedience the Saiyan is forced to wear around the authoritarian, perfected over years of servitude. "We have returned from the Planet Shikk. They have now pledged their loyalty to you."

Vegeta remembered how easy the mission was; it was pitiful to send a force as mighty as the Saiyans to such a pathetic planet. After all, it only took three days to pillage. The three Saiyans were proud of their achievement, and were positive that they would be rewarded in some way. However, Lord Frieza remained utterly unaffected by the news, to the dismay of every Saiyan's pride.

"Hm. Did they really?" said Frieza, with a sarcastic undercurrent to the voice that stirred rage and violence in Vegeta's very being. "I'm surprised it took so long." He chortled.

Nappa's head rose and he growled at his master, his teeth bared which only made Frieza, Zarbon and Dodoria laugh harder. It took all of Vegeta's might to keep his face impassive. Yet he wished that with all the power in his body that he could peel that arrogant smirk off of Dodoria's fat pink face.

"Very well," Lord Frieza concluded. "You may go away now."

The lack of respect or even plain acknowledgement sent Nappa over the edge and the brainless oaf's anger overtook the rest of his senses. He rose to his feet in protest:

"Wait a minute, is that it?!"

Vegeta knew that the bald giant was stupid, but he never believed he would be _this _stupid. His jaw loosened and he glanced at Nappa. _Stop, you idiot!_

Naturally, Zarbon and Dodoria reacted immediately and altered their stances, anxious for the fight that had been brewing under the lid of the pot for years now, ready to protect their Master. Not that Frieza had any need for their protection from the likes of Nappa or Radtiz. As much as it killed him to admit, even to himself, Vegeta knew this was true. Frieza could crush them without moving an inch.

"We crushed this race in just three days!" Nappa growled, resisting the instinct which told him to attack any who offended the pride of a Saiyan. "And _all_ you can say is- is-"

"Tell me Zarbon," Frieza interrupted sounding bored. "How long do you think it would take you to conquer a planet like Shikk?"

"Well, I imagine one full day would be enough."

_Cocky bastard,_ Vegeta hissed. _There will come a day when someone is going to knock you from your pedestal and I'm going to be there to watch as the life flees from your eyes and your blood stains the ground and then I'm going to cook your flesh and feed it to the Saibamen. _

"Hm. Merely a whole day? It is a tiny planet, after all" cackled Frieza.

At this point, it was becoming much more difficult for the Prince to keep his poker face up, his entire being began to vibrate and he bit down on his tongue hard, swallowing the Galick Gun attack fighting to escape through his clenched jaw.

Raditz, too, removed himself from his knees and stood at Nappa's side, hissing at Frieza, his body, too, shaking with the high levels of rage inside his body.

"Is there anything else you need to report?" the condescending demon asked, unaffected by either Nappa or Raditz's threat. "You do understand that I have more significant matters to attend to."

Nappa's face contorted so much that anyone else would have peed themselves with fear as Frieza took another stab at the famous Saiyan pride.

"You cocky little ass!" Nappa charged at the three aliens.

_You fucking imbecile!_ Vegeta pounced to his feet, reacting immediately while furious with the bald man. "NAPPA!"

Nappa may be bigger physically, yet one word from the smaller Prince caused Nappa to freeze in the spot, showing the depth of his loyalty to Vegeta. Vegeta knew that it was passed the time to get himself and his warriors away from the floating tyrant.

"Please excuse us, Master Frieza," he said, playing the role of the loyal subject himself and turned on his heel. His faithful, _fucking brainless_, subjects followed the flame-haired Saiyan without another word.

Vegeta would be glad to finally be free from their presence, and he thought he had diffused the spark for now until Zarbon added one final comment that pushed the Prince's resolve so close to the edge that he almost turned and fired.

"What more can you expect?" he laughed. "From a monkey?" His laugh echoed in Vegeta's head the whole way through the complex until he was outside, a safe distance from the green pretty-boy. _Start watching your back, Zarbon. One day I'll have your head.  
_

* * *

"I hate this!" Nappa snapped after five minutes of tension so thick in the air Vegeta could feel it seeping from his pores, corrupting the air. He needed a good few minutes to cool off after any interaction with Zarbon. That pansy boy really got under his skin. "I've been hearing talk about how our home planet was destroyed. At first I didn't believe it but now they say that it really didn't collide with another planet like we thought."

"What do you mean?" Raditz asked, almost hesitantly.

"I heard that Frieza did it."

Vegeta ignored their conversation as best as he could but the surprise registered on Raditz's face irked the Prince. _Could he really be so naive? How had that never occurred to them before? I'm surrounded by morons._ The thought was more depressing than Vegeta cared for.

"Huh? Why?" Radtiz demanded stupidly.

"Vegeta you have to listen to me!" Nappa begged, the fire burning in his eyes, itching for a fight. Almost as much as Vegeta was. "It was Frieza that ordered it all-" the Prince stopped walking at this point, forcing back the memories that were pushing through the thick stone wall he had built in his mind as Nappa blubbered on. He didn't need those memories to spur on his plans, he knew what happened, and he knew what he needed to do. How did focusing on the past help? "He ordered the destruction of everything that-!"

Vegeta took a mere moment to compose himself and his thoughts before he faced Nappa, his face deadpan. "I already knew that."

"WHAT? You knew?" Nappa said, shocked. "And you still obey Frieza? Why?"

"Everything you said means nothing to me now," the Saiyan Prince announced calmly, as he ignored the stupefied faces of Radtiz and Nappa. "Strength is the only thing that matters in this world. Everything else is just a delusion for the weak." _And I am NOT weak._ "There's only one certainty in life-" Vegeta began summoning his power, the wind thrashing around him, his ki rising, manipulating the very air around the Saiyans, dust and the very land itself began to crumble under his might. "-I know Frieza's strength overtakes my own, and there's no way I could defeat him in the present, but the blood in our veins is the blood warriors, the more we fight the more powerful we become! Until the day comes when I'll be strong enough to defeat Frieza and I will take over the Empire and rule as is my birth right."

Raditz was the first to recover and he growled, "Do you have a plan to overthrow Frieza? He has many loyal supporters who would rush to his side to fight against us! Who would come to our aid?"

"You fool!" Vegeta snapped, irked by their lack of faith in his abilites. "I will be strong enough to take them all out!"

"But three Saiyans, Vegeta," said Nappa, his training from the time he was Commander-in-chief for the Saiyan Army kicking in. _Finally he's using that brain of his for once._ Raditz's looked like he was concentrating very hard on something but Vegeta tuned him out. "We might be powerful but we will need more."

"Kakarot," Raditz said suddenly.

"What?" asked Vegeta. _Why does that name sound farmilar?_ "Your brother?"

"Yes, Vegeta," said Raditz. "Kakarot. He is out there somewhere."

"What are you talking about?" Vegeta asked, his patience for the day waning dangerously thin.

"Kakarot should have survived the destruction of Planet Vegeta," Radtiz said, his hands formed tight fists at the mention of his old home and the new realisation of its demise. "He had been sent on a mission, just like we had and he did not return from it in time. There's another Saiyan out there! One of us could go and get him, he'd help with our cause."

Vegeta gnashed his teeth together in frustration.

"Lower your voice, you idiot! We have no use for a third class weakling! He's been gone twenty years and he still hasn't returned! Clearly the imbecile takes this long to destroy one planet? What use would he be to our cause? What kind of warrior could he possibly be?! That's _if _he's even alive after all this time!"

"But Prince Vegeta," Radtiz said, surprisingly calm for having spit attacking his face. "We are the last Saiyans left. You, Nappa, Kakarot and I. That's it-" he lowered his voice at last. Afterall, Frieza did have eyes and ears everywhere. "And if we are to ever take on Frieza, and avenge our race, we will need all the back-up we can get."

Vegeta pondered over this thought. What Raditz said was true, even if Vegeta's power succeeded Frieza's, Kakarot's assistance would be of use to consolidating his power when he took over the throne, even if he was a mere third class warrior, like his brother. A third class warrior was of some use, even if he was just a pawn that would inevitably perish in the battlefield. Again, all of this depends on whether Kakarot was truly alive or not. Taking this action without consulting Frieza would incur his wrath, Vegeta knew this, but he couldn't very well go announcing to Frieza that there might be another Saiyan somewhere in the galaxy; he may very well decide to just kill them all off there and then. _Kakarot, are you alive? Would your power be of use to me? Or would you simply be as useless as I suspect? Is it worth the risk at the moment?_

"All right," he said finally. "But you, Raditz, will be the one to go and fetch Kakarot. I want you gone as soon as possible. Frieza will have a new mission for us soon, no doubt. However, Nappa and I will go it alone and you will retrieve Kakarot from whatever corner of the universe he is hiding in. Keep your scouter on. I want to establish whether or not he'll even be worth the effort before you bring him to me."

"Yes, Vegeta."

The Saiyans made their way to their chambers for the night. Vegeta trusted that Raditz had ways of tracking down his brother. The information will be stored somewhere in the complex. Vegeta had a quick shower, then lay down in his bed and dreamt of blood and vengeance.

* * *

The Saiyans were summoned at dawn the following day, as Vegeta predicted. Frieza ordered Vegeta and his Saiyan comrades to go forth to conquer another planet for The Planet Trade Organisation all the way at the other end of the galaxy.

"Yes, Lord Frieza. As you wish," Vegeta said; the automatic response was all but chiselled into his brain at this point. Yet, there were other matters which weighed more heavily on his mind. Such as ramming his fist through the mutant's chest and ripping out his heart with just enough time left for Frieza to watch him lick the blood dripping down his arm before the life is sucked out of him and he's sent to hell. _  
_

"Now, shoo little monkeys," hissed Frieza and he turned his back on the three men, apparently having again, more important matters.

Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta left the room in complete silence, ignoring the henchmen they passed in the corridors who always mocked them. The silence held fast and heavy until they arrived at the Space Pod Deployment Sector.

"Did you find out where Kakarot is?" Vegeta asked.

"Yes," he said, opening the door to his pod. "Some backwater planet called Earth. Such a stupid name for a planet."

_Earth, yes I've heard of it. Isn't it inhabited by a weak breed? Why hasn't that race been annihilated yet? Kakarot better have some good answers. _

"Too bad," Nappa said, cracking his knuckles, his sardonic smile making Raditz grimace at the oaf. "You'll miss out on all the fun."

"Be quiet Nappa," barked Vegeta, his infamous frown plastered to his otherwise handsome face, tricking the eye into believing he was older than he was. "Go. Set your co-ordinates, and Raditz, if the Earth and all its people haven't been destroyed, I want you to blow it to pieces."

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I want to thank everyone who reads this for reading not only my first fan fiction chapter ever, but the first piece of writing that I've done in about four years now. Man, I'm so rusty but it felt good! Please review, I'd really appreciate it. Like everyone here, I really want to improve my writing and figure out what makes you guys tick! 

SphynxOfRiddles


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